Archive for the ‘The Guest Room’ Category

Editor’s note: Breaking Bad went from a curio television program to a cultural phenomenon. I’ve wanted to talk about the show before it jumped off the cliff to popularity but I just never made the connection. In steps my homegirl Special K who really, really, REALLY goes in for the show. She’s gonna give us drops for this new feature titled ‘Blogging Bad’. Let’s go…

How much of a “Breaking Bad” fan am I? Let’s just put it this way. How many people do you know who would actually choose to vacation in glorious Albuquerque, New Mexico in the height of their 100+ degree summer just so they could do their own Breaking Bad tour, visiting and photographing many of the locations that are key to the series’ storyline?

Also, how many people do you know who friend people on Facebook who have assumed the identities of Breaking Bad characters? Well now you know at least one. Obsessed much? Just a little. But who could blame me? BB has to be one of the best shows EVER on TV, right up there, for my money, with The Wire and The Sopranos.

And for those of you who watched on Sunday night (SPOILER ALERT), you know that it’s now on between Walt and his brother-in-law/DEA agent Hank, and the end might just be in sight for Walt’s blue meth empire. Unfortunately, we’re not going to find out for another year, as the last episodes of the fifth – and final – season of BB will be broadcast next summer. So for those who need their BB fix, so to speak, you’re just gonna have to wait!

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–

I, too, am America.

-Langston Hughes

Sneaker Fiends Unite District chapter president JaiSlayer sends us some pics from his upcoming Independence Day aka Juneteenth outfit architecture and it reminds me why I also rock hard with the freedom lifestyle.

Editor’s note: Do you remember theGrandmaster? Well here he is again with a guest drop on why the hipster media exploits rap for its credibility until shit gets real…

“yesterday, [Action Bronson] crossed over into unsettling territory … he posted Instagram photos of a supposedly incapacitated transgender person that a friend of his had poured water on.
“Lame and reckless all around.” – Carrie Battan, Pitchfork News

“Hood” and “hip” are on-again off-again business partners. In the ’60s, Detroit Red sold drugs to slumming Manhattan socialites, while Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ’80s rise to art world stardom was boosted by his connection to Andy Warhol’s pop art circles.

Today, as Cam’ron and the Clipse before them, groups like Odd Future/Wolf Gang, A$AP MOB, and a crop of loosely-affiliated emcees (Danny Brown, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Das Racist, etc.) are being embraced by a White hipster scene craving the authentic voice of the streets.

But as Tyler, The Creator and Action Bronson share Terry Richardson’s lens with Lady Gaga and Kate Moss, is the hood being valued – or exploited?

Pitchfork is a signpost for the hipster music scene: reporting on it while also charting its course. Sometimes that trend-setting (word to Prodigy) can be cutting: they’re notorious for dropping 0.0’s on undeserving albums, and recently Childish Gambino’s Camp received a 1.6.

Considering this, the comparatively high scores that Action Bronson’s last three full-length efforts received – Dr. Lecter and Blue Chips got 8.1’s, while Well-Done copped to a 7.1 – represent a strong endorsement of his style and content. Pitchfork’s string of positive reviews provided him with breakthrough media coverage, filled with comments like “Bronson boasts his own brand of gonzo humor, subtle pathos, and specificity”. By “specificity”, I assume they mean not only references to obscure French cheeses, but also to lines like “7 times she got stabbed in the back / By a regular john… / That’s what she gets for being a whore though”.

The blog post said “[Action’s lyrics] crossed over into unsettling territory when he went on a Twitter tear in which he posted Instagram photos of a supposedly incapacitated transgender person that a friend of his had poured water on.”

Oh, word? That’s when it crossed over?

This from the same site that once wrote that “Bronson’s lyrics can be ignorant as fuck (“Take a dyke on a date/ She let me pipe cuz I’m an ape”), but … He’s just kicking silly bullshit, and it’s tough to imagine anyone seriously getting offended.”

Action’s lyrics were “silly bullshit” while they rode shotgun in iTunes; but when he took to Instagram, connecting his lyrics to an actual environment and lifestyle, that was the step too far? While Action plays the part of chubby hood jester, rapping about bruschetta and occasionally slapping women or juxing fags, hey, it’s all part of his “swag”; but God forbid he actually disrespects a woman or objectifies a gay person. That’s when it goes too far.

Here is the problem: Bronson’s New York swagger isn’t just some goofy fat guy schtick. He’s Queens through and through, and the Pitchfork hipsters-in-chief seemed to misunderstand – or not care – what they were co-signing when they call him a “raw Queens charmer, scheming in the tradition of old working class New York”. To be working class in New York is to be funny, a quick charmer, a slick-tongued hustler. It also means not taking shit from anybody, being politically incorrect, and having a big pair of balls. These are traits the left-leaning hipster agenda is happy to support – opportunistically, whenever they happen to support their causes.

In a profile of the young and amoral Odd Future collective, a Pitchfork contributor wrote that they should “Continue on, undeterred by the demands of the mainstream’s social mores and face the wraths of conservatism,” or else “change up and burn away their hard-earned integrity“. Free speech, thumbing their nose at the man (I ain’t a part of your system!) – causes near and dear to any hipster’s ironic-American-flag-tee wearing heart.

But what happens when that “hard-earned integrity” starts butting up against other hipster values? Let’s face it: while LGBT awareness runs deep in the hipster community, you’re not likely to see large sections of “old working class New York” turning out for the Rainbow Coalition, and gay pride parades aren’t exactly “raw Queens charm”.

When that happens, what comes about is a morally confusing cycle of praise and rebuke: Bronson, Odd Future, and others like them are applauded, praised, and promoted by hipster tastemakers for their authentic voices; but as their media profile grows, so does the pressure for them to become inauthentic to the same roots that they were praised for staying close to. So Pitchfork and other outlets like Vice, Vulture, Fader, (I’d say Rolling Stone, but since when were they relevant?), and the like praise the “Talented, hilarious, villainous, immature, precocious… vanguard of modern hip-hop” – but when these artists turn out to resemble the people they rap about – the performing monkeys have escaped from their cage. And those same outlets scramble to distance themselves.

It seems that hipster media has confused “sounding grimy” and “being authentic” – they love the first, and find the latter distasteful. They love hearing raps that push the boundaries of acceptable behavior – slapping bitches, disrespecting gays, selling drugs and pussy, living rough – but don’t want to acknowledge the social reality that, for some people, this is life. So they stay in their bubble, listening to music that hints at a morally and socially frightening world, while being able to ignore its realness – until that realness pops up on their Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds.

Is Action Bronson’s man Bes throwing water on a Mexican tranny “reckless”? Sure. But it’s hypocritical for the hipster/fringe-culture-glorifying music press can call it “lame” – when rapping about this lifestyle is exactly how he earned cool points with them in the first place.

If you fux with dallaspenn.com then it’s safe to assume you got a sense of humor. My homey recently turned me on to one of the best comedies i’ve seen in a minute. The show is “Angry Boys”, a mockumentary style comedy from down under
(Australia) on HBO. This is the type of show you either fux with or you don’t. The show stars Chris Lilley, who is also the creator and writer of the show. Lilley plays four differnt characters on the show and his acting ability is
phenomenal, dude will have you believing that he is actually a woman with two of the characters he created one being Jen Okazaki (a mother of a skateboarding prodigy) and the other Gran Sims (an officer at a juvenille hall). So far there is only one season, but don’t be disappointed if you find that you killed the first season in one sitting because he has done a couple of other shows. The first show he created was called “We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year”, and then he produced “Summer Heights High”, another classic. If you got the HBO GO app you can watch both “Angry Boys” and “Summer Heights High” there. Peep it out and let me know what you think.

Editor’s note: T-Bag gives us some true life stories on this drop. Leave him a comment.

Growing up I went through all the typical struggles one goes through, parents divorcing at a young age, teenage angst, trying to fit in, etc. Unfortunately my parents divorce had a profound impact on the majority of my life. I remember the first day at my new school I didn’t know anyone and all I wanted to do was make friends and fit in as any kid in the 4th grade wants to do. Up until this point I had been a great student, interested in learning and academics in general.

To make a long story short from the first day at my new school on through my senior year of high school all I was good at doing was fuxing up. To give you an example of how fuxed up I was, I got an “F” in ceramics in my junior year of high school. This was one of many “F’s” I would receive. I thought I was the coolest person around, my parents didn’t know ish, and I had the answer to everything (typical teenager). When reality set in in my early 20’s and my pops stepped to me and asked me “So whats your plan”? I was dumbfounded. At this point I was going to community college still not really giving a fux because I had a roof over my head and 3 square meals. So it hit me, I need to get my ish together and make something happen.

As you already know I finished community college by the age of thirty and obtained my degree in Registered Nursing. The only problem is that since I wasted all my years in high school making bad choices I am now >> paying the price in my daily life. I am surrounded by MD’s, Nurses, Physical therapists, etc., all who are well educated. My problem is that I am unable to contribute to many conversations because I didn’t learn anything in school cause I was too busy being Mr. cool guy. In the last few years I have had to take it upon myself to learn the things I was supposed to learn as a youngster myself.

I recently copped the book “A Short History of the World” by H.G. Wells, a recommendation by one of my very well educated friends. This book is about exactly what the title says, a concise history of the world. It starts out from the planet having no life to World War I. If you lived your life like me and feel as though you also have a lot of learning to do, cop this joint. One of the great things about this book is that it is free on the Kindle app for all you fux ups.